Canadian Notebook

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 23

Canadian Notebook

By

Les Bloxham

i Jottings from the diary of the travel editor who has just returned from, an extensive motoring tour of the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quehec, Alberta, iand British Columbia.

Aided by . the currently favourable exchange rate for dollars,. New Zealanders are finding that Canada certainly is i “bargain holiday”; destination. One New Zealand dollar is now worth $1.13 Canadian; and that means that the traveller planning to convert SNZIOOO is going to have a $ll3 bonus to play with in Canada. , , # ■ :? St The dollar also seems to go further in Canada. Comfortable motel-type accommodation is available on the outskirts of major cities -for as little as $25 a night, modest meals with endless cups of drinkable coffee-can be had for $4 or $5, and rental cars hired on an unlimited mileage basis for only $22 a day. sj- sj« ’ £t And where else in the world can you still buy a gallon of petrol for less than a dollar? In oil-rich Alberta you can. Prices there range from 20 cents a litre • for self-service regular “gas” to 23 cents for super dispensed by an attendant. Petrol is a little dearer in the other provincesi but nowhere does it exceed 30 cents a litre. ❖ ❖ Although bountiful in oil, Alberta is again short on beer. Prolonged strikes by brewery workers at the height of summer have become as regular as Edmonton’s Klondike festival and the Calgary Stampede. New Zealanders in Edmonton for the Commonwealth Games in 1978 will probably recall the beer drought that plagued the province then. Apparently the same thing happened last summer and yet again this year with still no ' settlement in sight. :Jt jjs s|s Further east there is plenty of-beer; but in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, a strike by projectionists has closed cinemas for more than three months. Late last week the employers were threatening to seek non-union labour in a bid to break the dispute. Visitors wanting a cheap, quick means of whizzing around this predominantly flat- capital can now hire roller skates for $4 a day.

New Zealanders can now get direct ‘ access into the heart'of Canada on CP Air’s new non-stop' service from Honolulu to Toronto. Ths flight takes eight hours. but eliminates transfers at either Los Angeles or Vancouver.

By the way, businessmen forced to fly between cities in New Zealand will probably be envious of a new .service- to be- introduced by CP Air between Montreal and Toronto from* September 15. The airline will operate a Boeing 737 with only ;68 seats (about 50 fewer than normal) in a tworabreast configuration. The $22 surcharge for the “company jet” -service -will include special meals, stream-lined check-in facilities;, and a reserved boarding lounge with complimentary newspapers, coffee, and fruit juice.

Overseas newspapers and television stations provide precious little news of New Zealand, and the Canadian media is no exception. However, we did; get the occasional pa-< triotic kick out of seeing,

for instance, Kiri Te-Ka-nawa albums bn display in a Quebec record ? stored a library clip on television- of > Ed/Hillary reaching the; r ’ summit of Everest, the koru on the tail . of a DCIO at Montreal (Air New Zealand’s aircraft -on lease to British Airways)/ and New, Zealand lamb and Kiwifruit, offered. on .the menus ; of several top restaurants. - ’ ; :

. .If you are planning to drive in Canada take careful note of the differing: speed limits when- crossing, from one province- to * another. ' For instance, / the maximum legal speed in Alberta is HOkm/h whereas in British. Columbia- it is lOOkm/h. But in Ontario the limit is 90. ’ # ■ -SsS • ' •-.

Canadians must be particularly patriotic. How pleasing it was to see so many private homes flying tire national flag,, and a whole stadium of football

fans (and the teams) singing with feeling their anthem,' “Oh Canada.” Not. a shortened version, either. z ' X* . ' sje -.“Aha. Something funny going ; on . here,” we thought as we glanced at a brochure in Banff advertising, jet? boat tourist rides, on the Bow River. “Those mountains are the Remarkables and the river is the Shotover.” Sure enough, they were.; ’The boat .operator, Gordon .Treason, is; formerly from Hawke’s Bay and had no suitable- colour shots to promote . the service he started seven weeks ago. So‘ he used a familiar'shot .of? a : Queenstown boat with the ' Remarkables in the background to see him through until- he has his own promotional pictures. Incidentally, Gordon has run into a. heap of resentment at the little town of Canmore which is the base for his boat. It seems that the local residents resent the boats intrusion

into . their semi-retired,. peaceful area. ' ■ ‘‘A >ie $ Montreal is upset by a listing in the Guinness Book of Records . which gives its international airport at Mirabel the dubious honour of being further from the city it services than any in’ the world. Mirabel is' 53km from Montreal, but the city authorities have been, quick to point out that Narita Airport is 65km from .Tokyo and Viracopos, 96km from Sao Paulo. Incidentally, - all domestic North American' flights operate through Montreal’s Dorval Airport which is only 15km from the city centre. ■ jjc ~y 3jC<- . The flight time from Montreal to Toronto is about-the same as that between Christchurch and Auckland — near enough to 60 minutes from takeoff to touch-down. In fact, the only difference is the price of a ticket and the in-flight- service. The normal economy fare (including tax) is $76 one way (SNZ67) which is $3l lower than th; Christchu r c h-Auckland fare. During the flight the three attendants on the. CP. Air Boeing 737 (in an all-econ-‘ omy configuration) provided the 120 passengers with a full bar service, hot drinks; and trays of canapes. ’ ’ ■ ❖ ❖ Don’t leave Canada without a souvenir jar or two of the genuine maple syrup. Miniature packs cost’ only $1.50 and make ideal gifts.